Chapter Text
Frankly, Hizashi should have seen this coming.
Shouta had been on edge all morning—since last night, honestly—but Hizashi brushed it off as his husband being tired, or grumpy about a morning meeting. Izuku was subdued at breakfast, but not as badly as yesterday, so Hizashi had been hopeful for the day. Izuku would have a few regenerative hours of privacy, they would get this boring meeting over with, and Shouta would go home and back to bed. He’d send Hizashi a cute picture of Izuku snuggling with the cats, reassurance that everyone was okay, and then Izuku and Shouta would come back to UA for Izuku’s meeting with Hound Dog, and they could all be together again!
Heck, Izuku would probably be feeling better after therapy, and Shouta would be feeling better after a day with the kiddo, so maybe they could do some shopping on the way home. They could all cook a special meal together!
He had been so optimistic.
Barely fifteen minutes into the meeting, Hizashi realized he’d been a fool.
He was right, earlier, when he’d predicted that the meeting would be about All Might. If he’d thought about it for a moment longer, he might have realized that the man himself would be present.
“…and that’s why I’m looking forward to working with this new generation of young people!”
Hizashi could feel his blood boiling, but Shouta was positively radiating steam from the seat next to him.
“Yeah, young people with strong, heroic quirks, right?” Shouta snapped, loudly.
“Sho!” Hizashi hissed, eyes wide. Yeah, he was mad, and yeah, the guy was a total hypocrite, but they were still at work. Even Nedzu had his limits.
But Shouta loved pushing limits, and had never cared much for professionalism.
“Yes—Aizawa-kun, was it?” It seemed the number one hero couldn’t detect the sarcasm in Shouta’s tone. “Yes, this new generation of heroes will surely have promising quirks! I look forward to training them at your side. I will be relying on your advice as I begin this new stage of my career.”
It took everything Hizashi had not to hide his head in his hands. All Might had walked right into this one.
Shouta’s grin was feral. “Oh? Looking for career advice, Yagi-san? You know, someone with your experience and abilities… I think the best thing I can tell you is to be realistic—”
Hizashi pinched his husband’s leg hard under the conference table. Shouta gave him the stink eye, but stopped talking immediately. All Might looked confused, but quickly plastered that disgusting, fake smile back on his ugly, stupid face.
Yeah, of course—Hizashi was angry too. He just knew better than to show it right now, in a faculty meeting. He was saving it.
The rest of the hour continued in much the same fashion. All Might said something stupid, Shouta snarked at him, and Hizashi did his best to rein in his feral husband. All Might was blissfully, ridiculously oblivious, never reacting beyond a slightly puzzled twitch of his eyebrows.
Nedzu said nothing one way or the other, but Hizashi knew better than to think they’d gotten away with it.
Surely enough, just as everyone was getting ready to leave, Nedzu appeared on Shouta’s other side.
“Aizawa, would you perhaps join me in my office for some tea? I’d like to speak with you, Vlad, and Toshinori, to discuss some particulars about Toshinori’s involvement with the first-year hero classes. There are some things you need to know.”
The principal’s gaze slid over to Hizashi. His eyes were just as black and inscrutable as they’d been when he was their homeroom teacher. Hizashi repressed a shudder.
“Yamada, you may as well come along. It will save Aizawa the trouble of telling you later.”
They hung back for a moment to give Nedzu a head start. Hizashi felt a bit like they were in high school again, on their way to be scolded for sneaking onto the roof or experimenting with their quirks unsupervised.
“I think we should tell Nedzu the whole story,” Shouta said under his breath as they gathered their things. “It’s the perfect time to bring it up. All Might can't weasel out of it if the rat's there.”
“I don’t know… Would that be breaking Izuku’s trust? If we hurt him…" Hizashi remembered Izuku curled in on himself in the hallway. "I don’t want to do anything that would hurt him.”
Hizashi didn’t like the idea of talking about Izuku without his permission, not when they were working so carefully on trust and communication. All Might, and keeping his secrets, was still Izuku's worst trigger. If Izuku found out they'd shared his secret…
But he also saw red whenever he looked at All Might, when Hizashi remembered the way Izuku had broken down and sobbed in the hospital, when he’d said he left me up there and I should have jumped and he said no.
Shouta’s voice cut through his memories. “I respect the kid’s trust, but he’s still a kid. Would we let someone get away with hurting a child just because the kid doesn’t want to get them in trouble? No, because kids don’t decide what’s right or wrong, or what’s illegal. It’s our responsibility to take action, sometimes, even if the kid doesn’t want us to. We have to do the right thing. As heroes. As…as adults.”
As parents, Hizashi thought, excited in spite of the serious topic. Shouta totally wanted to say parents.
His excitement dissipated when they reached the doors of Nedzu’s office and found All Might waiting there, chatting awkwardly with Vlad King and the principal. All Might’s smile widened when he saw them.
“Ah, Aizawa-kun, Present Mic! Forgive me, but I thought there were only two first year hero classes…?” His gaze slid down to Nedzu.
The principal held up a hand. “I invited Yamada to sit in, Toshinori. I believe we will all benefit from including them in your confidence, and they are very trustworthy.” Nedzu grinned deliberately at Shouta as he continued, “Also, given that they and Aizawa are married, anything we say in this meeting is bound to reach their ears by dinnertime.”
Shouta scowled at Nedzu, who only twitched his nose before turning to lead them all into his office. It wasn’t like their relationship was a secret, at least among UA faculty—life was too short for them to spend all day pretending they weren’t the most important people in each other’s lives. But Shouta enjoyed playing mind games with new staff, and seeing how long it took them to figure it out. Nedzu usually played along, but it seemed that depriving Shouta of his entertainment was the principal’s punishment for his bad behavior during the meeting.
As they entered Nedzu’s comfortably-furnished office, Hizashi felt Shouta’s shoulders rise again. Was his husband going to make it through this meeting? Was Hizashi going to make it through this meeting? Was All Might? Should they confront him now, while they had him, or wait until afterwards, when they were done with whatever this meeting was about? Should they wait and speak to Nedzu first? Tsukauchi? Would they even get a chance?
Hizashi was no longer feeling optimistic.
The group settled in a small sitting area away from the principal’s desk. Shouta and Hizashi sat next to each other on a small sofa, while Vlad and Nedzu each took a chair. All Might stayed standing, clearly too large for the furniture.
“Forgive me for not preparing tea,” the principal said, not sounding sorry at all. “I think it would be best if we got straight to it—don’t you, Toshinori?”
“Very well,” the hero sighed, and… deflated.
Where All Might—the number one hero, the symbol of peace—had been standing, now there was only an old, emaciated man with sunken eyes and a too-sharp jawline. There was no trace of the idiotic signature smile.
A fake…? Hizashi wondered.
“This is the real me.” He sank into a chair. “I…am All Might.”
Had Hizashi spoken out loud? He must be picking it up from Izuku.
“Five years ago,” the sickly-looking hero continued, sounding rehearsed, “An enemy did this to me.”
As Shouta listened to the bastard’s story, puzzle pieces started falling into place, and he didn’t like the picture.
Is it possible…?
Shouta might not like it, but it made sense. It would explain why Izuku was still so shifty about his encounter with All Might, why he still acted like he was hiding something. The kid didn’t mind talking about the abuse he faced at school or the neglect he faced at home, but he still wouldn’t tell them the whole story about All Might.
He had a bad feeling about this.
“…and because of that, it’s absolutely vital that no one outside of this room find out about my time limit, and no one outside the faculty find out about my true appearance. Only four people outside this room possess this knowledge—Recovery Girl, Sir Nighteye, a former teacher of mine, and a personal friend. I am putting myself at great risk by sharing this information, you have to understand. You must promise me you won’t tell this information to anyone, for any reason.”
Shouta bristled at the phrasing, and he sensed Hizashi react similarly next to him. Vlad had been sitting silently since All Might shrank, jaw slack. He showed no reaction.
“It puts you three at risk as well,” Nezu interjected quickly, “and I know it’s a lot to ask. We’re not only asking you to take on extra work, covering for Toshinori when he exceeds his limit, but to guard a high-level secret as well. However, I’ve assessed the risks and I believe that the benefits of having All Might at UA will ultimately outweigh the costs.” The principal folded his hands in his lap. “I am, as always, grateful for your cooperation”—not like we have a choice, Shouta thought—“but I know I do not need to ask for your discretion, because you are heroes and teachers of the highest caliber.”
Shouta rolled his eyes at Nedzu’s obvious attempt at manipulation, but he was more concerned about how All Might seemed to be approaching this entire thing. When he’d seen the hero shrink, his anger had been overpowered by shock. But the shock was fading and his anger was rising again.
“How can you possibly expect to hide this from the rest of the faculty?” Hizashi asked. “We all share a lounge, we have long meetings, we eat lunch together—are you going to be all…puffed up, that entire time? Someone is bound to catch on.”
“The rest of the faculty will eventually be made aware of Toshinori’s true appearance,” Nezu answered, “but knowledge of his time limit must be limited to you three. It is the far more dangerous piece of information, to you, to Toshinori, and to the world. You’re only being told because there is a high probability that Aizawa and Vlad will have to cover his classes on short notice, and a not-insignificant likelihood that he would accidentally expose the secret to one of them in his first month of teaching. I'm simply getting ahead of the issue by telling you all now.”
“I have a question,” Shouta growled, “and I expect Yagi to answer himself this time. What would you do if a student found out? If you ran out of time, and one of our kids saw you? How would you handle that?”
He felt Hizashi’s foot bump up against his, and looked at his husband. His eyes were a warning—narrow and serious. Think carefully about what you’re doing, Sho. Shouta returned the look and held it. I’m not backing down. It has to be done, and I’ll do it if you won’t.
Hizashi responded with an almost imperceptible nod and placed his hand on Shouta’s knee, a silent expression of support.
The exchange only took a moment, and All Might had yet to answer. Shouta sharpened his gaze and turned it back on the thin man.
“Well?”
“If everyone acts responsibly, Aizawa-kun, no student will ever be in a position to find out. It will not be an issue.”
“I haven’t survived this long as a hero by waiting for things to go according to plan,” Shouta sneered, “and high schoolers are even less predictable than villains. Use your imagination and answer the question. What would you do if a kid found out?”
All Might looked nervous. Was he finally starting to catch on that Shouta didn’t like him? Or maybe Shouta was right—maybe he didn’t have to use his imagination. He didn’t want to be right.
“I suppose… Well, I should hope that students aspiring to become heroes would understand the importance of discretion.” He wouldn’t make eye contact with Shouta, but his voice grew bolder as he went on. “If they desire to be successful at UA, or in any aspect of their lives, they must learn to act with honor. I would consider it an educational experience for them, perhaps.” All Might’s eyes darted to Nedzu. “And, ah, I’m sure that they could be persuaded, so to speak, even if they did not fully grasp the severity of the situation. This is a competitive school…”
Shouta clenched his jaw, torn between his burning desire to tear into the man and the logical benefit of letting him dig himself deeper. He held back, barely, but Hizashi did not.
“Are you seriously thinking about how you would protect yourself in that situation? It’s our responsibility as teachers to protect our students—Nedzu just said it's dangerous to know this information—and you’re saying you’d threaten them with expulsion?”
All Might brightened suddenly and held up a finger, as though he’d had a fantastic idea. “Actually, when I worked with Nighteye, our agency’s legal department would send a form to any witnesses who learned the details of his quirk—something like that might be useful.”
That was it. Shouta was done.
“Oh, you’re not just an idiot, you’re a fucking bastard,” he sneered. “You’d ruin a kid's education—ruin their life—just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, wouldn’t you? Just to save your own dignity—because you can’t accept your own weakness, because you want to pretend you're still strong.” He was shouting, somehow. In his peripheral vision he saw Vlad’s eyes were as wide as they could go. Hizashi’s fingers were digging into his thigh.
“Despicable,” Shouta spat, and slammed his hands down on the table between them. “If not as a hero, then as a teacher, you have a sacred responsibility to nurture young people, to protect them—not force them to protect you.” He put his weight on his hands and leaned over the table, fixing All Might with his most derisive glare. “But I wouldn't expect you to give a shit. You’re a bastard. Do you have any idea what kind of impact your words have on young people, especially kids who want to be heroes? Is that something you’ve thought at all about? The power you have to lift them up or—" his throat was tight, too tight—"break them with a single sentence, a single word—I bet you’ve never even considered it. You're so caught up in the importance of your own life, your own secrets, that you could crush a child’s dreams and walk away without looking back. I bet it didn’t even register for you.”
Shouta was out of breath. That was the longest and the loudest he’d spoken in years—maybe ever. The room was silent—Vlad agape, Nedzu calculating. He couldn’t see Hizashi, but he could feel his husband’s hand as a comforting weight on his back, completely still. All Might was looking at him through narrowed eyes, apparently finally picking up on Shouta’s animosity.
Bastard. Idiot bastard.
The idiot bastard broke the silence. “Aizawa-kun, what is this really about? I can’t honestly believe you’d react this strongly to a hypothetical situation. Is this some misplaced resentment? I can assure you, although I am eager to try my hand at teaching, I have no interest in making it my career. Your job is safe.”
Shouta stared at All Might in disbelief. Hizashi gripped his arm and leaned forward.
“Oh, fuck you,” drawled his beautiful husband.
They exchanged a look.
Screw it. No holding back. We’ll have to hope Izuku forgives us.
“You know what?” Shouta asked, leaning back a bit so he was even with Hizashi. “You’re right.”
All Might frowned and scratched his head. “I sympathize, but—”
“It’s not a hypothetical.”
All Might snapped his mouth shut.
“You did do all that, and more, to my kid, our son, and you apparently don't even fucking remember." Shouta's hair was rising, though he wasn't fully activating his quirk. "Or does he not count, because you made him promise not to tell? Or maybe because he's quirkless? Or, fuck—” A thought occurred to him, but it was horrible. “Did you…did you think he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone? You didn’t even get him medical attention!” The horror turned to anger again, but this time his eyes were wet and burning. “You left him alone after a villain attack—alone on a rooftop, you fucking monster. You told him to give up, and you left him there. I figured it was just negligence, stupidity, carelessness, but what if…” He trailed off, uncharacteristically unsure of himself.
The hurt and anger and disbelief warring in his chest were overwhelming. Shouta couldn’t think straight. He wasn’t thinking logically. His breath was coming too fast. Hizashi was gripping his hand so tightly it hurt, but he didn’t want him to stop.
“Is this about young—um, Motoya, was it? If I had known he was your son…”
He hadn’t been at the time, of course, but that shouldn’t make a difference. He technically still wasn’t, but that certainly didn’t make a difference. Not now.
“Yeah? If you had known…what? You’ve have called paramedics for him? Not just tried to leave him alone in the street the moment he regained consciousness? Maybe you would have thought twice about telling him he could never be a hero, if you knew his parents were heroes, hmm? If you knew we would find out, would you still have left him there, on that rooftop, alone and heartbroken?”
“…could you tell?”
Hizashi’s voice was frighteningly soft and even. He clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees, staring blankly at All Might.
“Could you see how much it hurt him, how badly he was already hurt? Because if you had even an inkling, if it even crossed your mind, that Izuku would try to take his own life that night…” He trailed off, the threat unspoken, his tone icy.
All Might immediately went pale, sputtering and waving his hands in front of his face. “I didn’t—how could I know that—I mean, that’s terrible, but I can hardly be blamed for the child's mental state! You said yourself he was already unwell! I mean—isn’t that really something you should have been focusing on at home? And, honestly—clearly he pulled through! He seemed fine when I met him here the other day! I doubt—”
Shouta’s heart stopped. His ears were ringing.
In his split-second of hesitation, Hizashi shot to his feet.
“When you what?” he screamed. Glass shattered, out of Shouta’s line of sight.
Everyone was standing now, moving all at once—Nedzu was nearly to his desk, Vlad was reaching for Hizashi, All Might was scrambling backwards and wiping blood from his ear—but Shouta was faster. His fist met All Might’s bony jaw with a sickening crack.
All Might instinctively puffed up into his heroic form, but Shouta was having none of that. He activated his quirk and the man was small again, blood erupting from his mouth. Shouta moved quickly—kidney, solar plexus—with all the speed and certainty he’d developed in ten years of underground heroics—nose, vagus nerve—where a moment of hesitation, even a split second of mercy—lateral to the knee—could cost him his life.
His assault on the number one hero was swift and brutal. Whether Shouta actually caught him off guard or his thin form was simply that weak, All Might crumpled to the ground. Just as Shouta was gearing up to kick him in the spine—
“Enough!” Nedzu shouted, slamming his hands on his desk. “Vlad, for goodness’ sake, restrain him!”
Vlad acted immediately, though he’d been frozen throughout the assault. Shouta didn’t struggle as his colleague pinned his arms behind his back, but he did manage to spit on All Might’s bloody form before Vlad wrenched him away. He released his quirk, but All Might didn’t transform—he just lay on the ground, letting out a slow, wheezing groan.
As Shouta let himself steered toward Nedzu’s desk, he made eye contact with Hizashi, who was watching the scene stony-faced. He cracked a tiny smile at Shouta, but then turned his glare back on All Might, upper lip curling into a sneer.
Shouta couldn’t help the wild grin that stretched across his face as he turned to face Nedzu fully.
“I’m done, for now. Promise.”
Nedzu only hesitated a moment before nodding at Vlad. “See to Toshinori, then. Yamada looks three seconds away from finishing the job.” His tone was exasperated, but his face was more serious—brows furrowed, whiskers twitching. He approached All Might where he was being helped into a chair by Vlad, though he kept Shouta in his peripheral vision. “Toshinori,” he said gravely, “is any of this true?”
All Might looked at Nedzu incredulously. Blood dribbled down his chin.
“No—I apologize, this has been an…unsettling conversation.” The principal clasped his hands behind his back. “We’ll speak about this later. I need to make some calls, see if I can get Detective Tsukauchi involved.”
“Tsukauchi is already involved,” Hizashi chimed in. “He took Izuku’s statement the other day.” He was lounging on the sofa across from All Might, and—was that his phone? Shouta’s grin widened. Hizashi was taking photos.
“I was supposed to meet with him tonight,” All Might wheezed, wetly. “Something serious, he said. I thought—”
“Vlad, take him to Recovery Girl.” Nedzu cut him off sharply. “Toshinori, I ask that you not leave the building, for now—I’ll get Tsukauchi here as quickly as possible. Return to my office after you’ve been healed. No stopping in the halls, no speaking to any students. Stay in this form and keep your head down.” He was looking at Vlad, not All Might. Keep him in line, his eyes said.
Vlad looked entirely out of his depth, but nodded and looped All Might’s arm over his shoulders, shuffling out the door with the battered hero. Hizashi clicked his tongue as they passed, but said nothing.
All Might stayed silent as well, and kept his eyes down.
When they were gone, Nedzu exhaled deeply and motioned for Hizashi to join Shouta in front of his desk.
“I can tell there’s still much I don’t know,” he sighed. “I wish you two had brought this to me sooner, but I understand you must want to maintain Izuku’s privacy. However, I do not allow violence in anger between my staff, not in my school.” Their former homeroom teacher fixed them with a disapproving glare. “You should know better. There are cameras everywhere—you're lucky the ones in this room,” he tapped something on his keyboard, “happened to be malfunctioning during this meeting.”
Shouta darted his eyes over to Hizashi, who was biting back a smile.
“Had they been working,” the principal continued, also with a slight smile, “Toshinori could very well have pressed charges. In light of the circumstances, I will not be pursuing any internal disciplinary action—as long as this doesn’t happen again.” Nedzu narrowed his eyes at them, his voice firm. “This will not happen again.” He turned sharply on his heel, away from them, and clapped his hands together. “Now. You are both relieved of all UA duties for the day. We'll discuss this later, with cool heads. See to your son.” He waved them away, attention already fixed on his phone.
As Nedzu’s door closed behind them, Shouta felt the adrenaline fading from his body. His elation at finally taking his anger out on All Might was rapidly being replaced with anxiety as he remembered what had finally broken his composure.
Izuku.
All Might had met him, presumably spoken to him, recently. Presumably the day before yesterday, when he’d been at UA for therapy with Hound Dog. When he’d suddenly withdrawn from them. When the light in his eyes had faded, almost as dark as they’d been when he’d first woken up in the hospital.
Shouta’s breath was coming too quickly again. What had that monster said to their kid?
“Sho,” Hizashi started, and took both of his hands.
Shouta hissed, suddenly aware of broken skin and bruised knuckles. It wasn’t much, but the pain was enough to cut through his panic, and he started to count his breaths.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. C’mere.” Hizashi lifted his injured hand gently to examine it, and pressed a soft kiss to his curled fingers. “I’m sorry you’re hurt, but that was amazing. I hope Nedzu didn’t actually wipe the footage, because I want to watch that again and again from every angle. It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, Sho, seriously!”
“Don’t make it weird, Zashi,” Shouta grumbled, but couldn’t resist smiling. He pulled his hand back and offered his uninjured one to Hizashi instead, lacing their fingers together as walked through the halls.
“…I’m worried,” he admitted, once they were in the parking lot.
“I know, babe. Me too.”